Knowra Hula Hula Hula is a Hawaiian dance tradition that joins movement with chant or song. Its gestures and performance transmit stories, history, and cultural knowledge.
ʻAuana : ʻAuana is a modern form of hula, often accompanied by guitar or ukulele and sung in a melodic style. Its instrumentation and style distinguish it from hula kahiko.
Merrie Monarch Festival : The Merrie Monarch Festival is an annual Hawaiʻi festival featuring hula competitions and cultural events. Founded in 1964, it became a major platform for hula’s modern resurgence.
Hālau hula : A hālau hula is a school or group devoted to learning and practicing hula. It is a central setting for instruction, discipline, and transmission between generations.
Hawaiian sovereignty movement : The Hawaiian sovereignty movement seeks recognition of Native Hawaiian self-determination and political rights. Hula can express cultural identity and continuity within struggles over Hawaiian self-determination.
Hula kahiko : Hula kahiko is an ancient-style form of hula performed with traditional percussion and chant. It foregrounds the chant, percussion, and movement associated with older hula forms.
Kalākaua : Kalākaua was king of the Hawaiian Kingdom from 1874 to 1891. His reign encouraged the public revival of hula after decades of missionary opposition.
Hula competition : Hula competition is an organized performance in which groups or dancers are judged on hula presentation. Competitions showcase distinct schools’ interpretations of chant, song, and movement.
Kuleana : Kuleana is a Hawaiian concept encompassing responsibility, privilege, and reciprocal relationship. The idea helps explain the responsibilities attached to learning and performing inherited knowledge.
Oli : Oli is Hawaiian chant performed without instrumental accompaniment. Oli supplies the vocal form that accompanies or introduces many hula performances.
Hawaiian Renaissance : The Hawaiian Renaissance was a late-twentieth-century movement renewing Hawaiian language, arts, and cultural practices. Hula became a visible expression of this broader cultural renewal.
Show all 21